I almost quit everything 5 years ago

5 years ago I almost ended my entire writing career.

And it was all because of a simple mistake.

I'd edited a book for a client and had just turned it in and received the final payment.

Then I got a message.

"There are mistakes everywhere!"

She was panicking. I was crying.

Every single page had grammatical errors.

And to make matters worse...I'd already spent the money.

So, I blinked back the tears and typed a response.

“OMG I’m so sorry, I have no idea how that happened.”

Then I agreed to re-edit everything for free in, send it back the next day (insane turnaround), and refund half her money.

Not the best agreement, but at the time I thought my entire career was crashing and burning.

Afterall, most of my clients came from referrals.

She was a referral, and she had already referred me to someone else.

It took me hours before I could bring myself to really open the doc and start going through it.

And the next day, I sent her the newly edited draft.

But the damage was done.

She thanked me for my work (and luckily didn’t request a full refund), and said she’d also have someone else look through it as well (ouch).

I immediately canceled my other pending contracts.

I spent days messaging friends, talking in writer forums, and asking for advice.

“Maybe you should go back to school.”
“Have you ever taken any editing classes?”
“You should give her a full refund and apologize.”
“You shouldn’t have agreed to the project in the first place.”

None of those comments made me feel better.

So, I decided to quit.

But I opened that old, unedited document one last time, just to see if I could spot where the errors were again.

To prove I could at least see them, even if I couldn’t explain how I missed them the first time.

That’s when I realized it.

I’d made these changes before.

The typos all stood out so much because I’d seen them before…the first time.

So, I started scouring my files, looking for every version of that document.

And there it was, hidden in a previous version of a different Google doc.

Somehow, I had overwritten my edits and copied the wrong version into the doc that I sent my client.

My old version had all the corrections.

I messaged my client to let her know where my mistake had happened, and that I had, in fact, edited it properly the first time.

But at that point, it was too late. The damage was done.

However, I knew the truth, and that was enough.

So I didn’t quit.

Instead, I decided to get better.

1. I improved my writing systems.
   ↳ I got more organized with how I wrote and delivered content.
   

2. I started triple-checking my work.

   ↳ I made sure I reviewed all final work and made sure I sent the correct documents EVERY TIME.
   

3. I revisited what I actually wanted to do.
   ↳ I realized that I didn’t enjoy ghostwriting and editing books as much as I thought I did.
   ↳ I pivoted into writing/editing email and web copy which I liked a lot better!

What I’ve done since then:

I actually followed that last pivot and started writing for a marketing agency for a while, first as a freelancer, but eventually led the copy department.

But even then, I still didn’t feel like I was fully embracing my strengths.

So, I decided to take to LinkedIn and start teaching people what I’d learned.

And it all comes back to storytelling.

It always has, and it always will.

And now as a Story Coach & Content Strategist, I’ve helped dozens of people connect their story to their brand and ultimately clarify their brand message like never before.

But I never would’ve gotten here if I hadn’t made that mistake.

Because mistakes aren’t permanent unless we allow them to be.

They’re simply lessons waiting to be learned.

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P.S. If my story resonates and you’re interested in learning how you can work with me, Book a Free Discovery Call and let’s chat. I’d love to meet you! 💖